Rod Steiger

Actor

Male

BornApr 14, 1925

HometownWesthampton, New ...

DiedJul 9, 2002

Death PlaceLos Angeles

ReligionLutheran

Height5' 10" (178 cm)

NationalityAmerican

Rodney Stephen "Rod" Steiger was an Academy Award-winning American actor known for his performances in such films as On the Waterfront, The Big Knife, Oklahoma!, The Harder They Fall, Across the Bridge, The Pawnbroker, Doctor Zhivago, In the Heat of the Night, and Waterloo as well as the television programs Marty and Jesus of Nazareth.… Read More

News + Updates

'LOS ANGELES, Feb. 3, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Legendary actress Ellen Burstyn and journalist/ novelist/ director Martyn Burke will be on-hand to receive the most prestigious honors bestowed by the International Press Academy, the largest group of entertainment journalists to recognize accomplishments in the film, television and digital entertainment industry. Ellen Burstyn will join the ranks of Rod Steiger, Susan Sarandon, Gena Rowlands, Mitzi Gayno...

'Nina Castelnuovo''s photograph of a faceless 28-year-old Tel Aviv woman, which accompanied the New York Times front page story "In Israel, A Push to Test For Cancer Gene Leaves Many Conflicted" (NYT, 11/26/13) presents the viewer with a congeries of troubling emotions.
It''s an iconic photo that goes beyond the substance of the article itself. The woman in the photo has pulled down the strap of her blouse to reveal the scar on her breast, where ostensibly a lump had been removed. But the ...

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I used to joke that Bernie Madoff was "The Man of Steal" but my newest title pun is the above and after watching Disney take a $150 million bath, I gotta say I have mixed feelings about it. Being a baby that once upon a time went boom, I grew up on "The Lone Ranger" and while I could never figure out why he had to tilt back his horse in the beginning of the show (did he run out of room?), the idea of silver bullets, a faithful Indian companion, the white hat, the cool tight like t...

'
I read two books by famous show business personalities this weekend. One was a first novel by Sidney Poitier, Montaro Caine, while the other was a memoir, The Friedkin Connection, by film director William Friedkin.
For various reasons, I have chosen to do a full review of only one of them, Sidney''s novel, although I am also recommending Billy''s searingly honest memoir, if only for its depiction of how he managed to make two of the most enduring films of our time, The French...

Timeline

CHILDHOOD

TWENTIES

195328 Years Old
On May 24, 1953, an episode of Goodyear Television Playhouse jump-started his career.
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The episode was the story of Marty written by Paddy Chayefsky. Marty is the story of a lonely homely butcher from the Bronx in search of love. Read Less

THIRTIES

195530 Years Old
Refusing to sign a seven-year studio contract, Steiger later turned down the role in the film version in 1955.
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Signing a studio contract at that time would "pigeon-hole" Steiger as to the roles he would later play and image portrayed on screen; those were two things Steiger objected to throughout his career. The role of Marty was turned over to Ernest Borgnine. Borgnine would receive the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Rod Steiger never regretted his decision to turn down the film role of Marty.<br /><br /> He won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Chief of Police Bill Gillespie in In the Heat of the Night (1967) opposite Sidney Poitier. He was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for On the Waterfront (1954), in which he played Marlon Brando's character's brother. He was nominated again, this time for Best Actor, for the gritty The Pawnbroker (1965), a Sidney Lumet film in which Steiger portrays an emotionally withdrawn Holocaust survivor living in New York City. Read Less

FORTIES

He also played well-known figures such as Napoleon Bonaparte in Waterloo (1970); Benito Mussolini in The Last Four Days (1974) and again in Lion of the Desert (1981); W. C. Fields in W. C. Fields and Me (1976); Pontius Pilate in Franco Zeffirelli's TV miniseries Jesus of Nazareth (1977); and mob boss Sam Giancana in the TV miniseries, Sinatra (1992). He appeared in several Italian films, including Hands Over the City (1963) and Lucky Luciano (1974) (both Francesco Rosi's), and also Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dynamite (1971). In France, he starred in Claude Chabrol's Innocents with Dirty Hands opposite Romy Schneider. <br /><br />In his later years he appeared in The Amityville Horror (1979); The Specialist (1994), and Mars Attacks! On television, he appeared in the miniseries Jackie Collins' Hollywood Wives (1985), Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City (1993), and a 1995 Columbo television film. Among his final roles was the judge in the prison drama, The Hurricane (1999). The film reunited him with director Norman Jewison, who had directed him in In the Heat of the Night. His last film was A Month of Sundays. <br /><br />Steiger also starred in the film version of Kurt Vonnegut's play Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1971). Read Less

In 1969, he appeared in the film adaptation of Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man with his then-wife, Claire Bloom.
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He was offered the title role in Patton, but turned it down because he did not want to glorify war. The role was then given to George C. Scott, who won a Best Actor Oscar. Steiger called this refusal his "dumbest career move". Read Less

LATE ADULTHOOD

199772 Years Old
Steiger has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard which was unveiled 1 April 1997.
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Steiger was married five times: actress Sally Gracie (1952–1958), actress Claire Bloom (1959–1969), Sherry Nelson (1973–1979), Paula Ellis (1986–1997) and actress Joan Benedict Steiger (married 2000 until his death).<br /><br /> He had a daughter, opera singer Anna Steiger (born in 1960) by Bloom, and a son, Michael Steiger (born in 1993), from his marriage to Ellis. Read Less

200277 Years Old
Steiger died in Los Angeles on July 9, 2002, aged 77, from pneumonia and complications from surgery for a gall bladder tumor.
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He is buried in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery.<br /><br /> The film Saving Shiloh, released in 2006, was dedicated to his memory. Read Less